Method and system for view sharing of digital files

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for sharing views of large digital files are described. An example method includes generating a plurality of content blocks of a digital file and uploading the plurality of content blocks to one or more servers for storage; determining one or more of the plurality of content blocks representing a view of the digital file to share with one or more viewer computer devices; transmitting storage addresses of the one or more determined content blocks to the one or more viewer computer devices; executing one or more host commands to the one or more determined content blocks on the host computer device for managing the view of the digital file; and transmitting the one or more host commands to the one or more viewer computer devices for execution.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/547,508, filed on Dec. 10, 2021, and entitled “Method andSystem for View Sharing of Digital Files”, the content of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for view sharingof digital files, specifically, for online communication involvingsynchronously sharing views of ultra-high resolution images, slides,videos, virtual tours between a host device and one or more viewerdevices.

BACKGROUND

Through the development of Internet technologies in recent years,real-time or near real-time view sharing (such as screen sharing in anonline meeting) of images, videos, or other digital files between a hostdevice and one or more remote viewer devices have become increasinglypopular and important in many practical scenarios, such as teachersteaching remote students, companies presenting to investors, remotemeetings, host-led virtual tours (museum/real-estate), etc. During viewsharing, the host and one or more viewers may view the samepresentation/view of a digital file in a synchronized way.

In general, there are two types of existing technologies for viewsharing. First, commercial live-meeting platforms such as Zoom, Voov,Google hangout, etc. provide viable solutions for sharing screens. Theseplatforms are configured to capture the view of the host's screen,compress the view, and transmitting the compressed view to the viewerdevices through a server. This approach works well when the data volumeis small, such as when the parties do not require high-resolution viewsor video quality. However, the performance of the view sharing on theseplatforms decreases when the file size or image resolution increases orthe network becomes more congested. More importantly, the resolution ofthe view on the viewer devices is limited by the maximum resolutionsupported by the platforms, which is usually 1080p with an optimalnetwork connection. If the host tries to share with the viewers anultra-high-resolution video, 3D imaging, or image (GB or even TB in filesize, such as a complete image of a glass slide created at 40×magnification with billions of pixels) and wishes the viewers have viewsof the same or similar resolution, the above-mentioned platforms mayvery likely be inadequate and incompetent. Even if the platform-imposedresolution limit is relaxed, sharing high-resolution views will stilllead to high latencies because of the massive volume of data to becaptured, compressed, and transferred.

The second type of existing technologies for view sharing involvestransferring the digital files directly to viewer devices for theviewers to view locally. This approach requires a high upfront datatransferring and storing cost to exchange for the benefit of subsequentlow-latency views. However, there are several issues with this approach.For example, transferring and storing ultra-high-resolution files of GBor even TB in file size is extremely costly. Furthermore, hosts in somecases prefer sharing only some views of a digital file with viewersrather than the entire digital file for privacy or intellectual propertyreasons.

This disclosure describes a novel way for sharing views of large digitalfiles, such as ultra-high-resolution images or files, videos (e.g., 4Kor 8K videos), virtual tours, etc. between a host and viewers withminimal data transferring and optimal view synchronization between thehost and the viewers.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present specification may include systems,methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for view sharingamong a host device and viewer devices.

According to a first aspect, a method for sharing views of digital filesis provided. The method may be implemented by a host computer devicesharing the digital files with one or more viewer devices. An examplemethod may include: generating, by a host computer device, a pluralityof content blocks of a digital file and uploading the plurality ofcontent blocks to one or more servers for storage; determining, by thehost computer device, one or more of the plurality of content blocksrepresenting a view of the digital file to share with one or more viewercomputer devices; transmitting, by the host computer device, storageaddresses of the one or more determined content blocks to the one ormore viewer computer devices for the one or more viewer computer devicesto retrieve the one or more determined content blocks from the one ormore servers based on the storage addresses; executing, by the hostcomputer device, one or more host commands to the one or more determinedcontent blocks on the host computer device for managing the view of thedigital file; and transmitting, by the host computer device, the one ormore host commands to the one or more viewer computer devices forexecution, thereby synchronizing the view of the digital file betweenthe one or more viewer computer devices and the host computer device.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving, by thehost computer device, a request for presenting from one of the one ormore viewer computer devices; upon approval of the request, receiving,by the host computer device, one or more viewer commands from the oneviewer computer device for managing the view of the digital file;executing, by the host computer device, the one or more viewer commandson the one or more determined content blocks stored in the host computerdevice, thereby synchronizing the view of the digital file between theone or more viewer computer devices and the host computer device; andforwarding, by the host computer device, the one or more viewer commandsto other viewer computer devices for synchronization.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving, by thehost computer device, a request for presenting from one of the one ormore viewer computer devices; upon approval of the request, receiving,by the host computer device, identifiers of a subset of the one or moredetermined content blocks and one or more viewer commands from the oneviewer computer device; identifying, by the host computer device, thesubset of the one or more determined content blocks on the host computerdevice based on the identifiers and executing the one or more viewercommands on the subset; and forwarding, by the host computer device, theidentifiers and the one or more viewer commands to other viewer computerdevices.

In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting, by thehost computer device to the viewer computer device, a solo-mode startingcommand allowing the viewer computer device to execute viewer commandsmanaging the one or more determined content blocks without synchronizingwith the host computer device or another viewer computer device.

In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting, by thehost computer device to the viewer computer device, a solo-mode endingcommand for the viewer computer device to execute the one or more hostcommands and re-synchronize with the host computer device.

In some embodiments, the one or more host commands managing the view ofthe digital file comprises at least one of: a zoom command; a rotationcommand; an annotation command; a navigation command; a command to addan object to the view of the digital file; or a command to delete oradjust an object in the view of the digital file.

In some embodiments, the generating the plurality of content blocks ofthe digital file includes: generating, by the host computer device, aplurality of versions of the digital file; and generating, by the hostcomputer device, a plurality of content blocks based on the plurality ofversions of the digital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises an ultra-high resolutionimage, and the generating the plurality of versions of the digital filecomprises: downsampling the ultra-high resolution image to obtain one ormore downsampled images with resolutions lower than an originalresolution of the ultra-high resolution image.

In some embodiments, the generating the plurality of content blocks ofthe digital file comprises: generating one or more first content blocksbased on the ultra-high resolution image; generating one or more secondcontent blocks based on the one or more downsampled images; andaggregating the one or more first content blocks and the one or moresecond content blocks to form the plurality of content blocks of thedigital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a deck of slides, andthe generating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: mapping the deck of slides into an ultra-high resolutionimage according to a host-defined configuration, wherein thehost-defined configuration comprises an location and a size of eachslide; and generating the plurality of content blocks based on theultra-high resolution image.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a video, and thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: segmenting the video into a plurality of video clips based ona host-defined clip length; and generating the plurality of contentblocks of the video based on the plurality of video clips.

In some embodiments, the one or more host commands managing the view ofthe digital file comprises at least one of: a pause command; a resumecommand; a command for configuring starting time; or a command forconfiguring a playback speed.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a virtual tour, and thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: generating a plurality of 360-degree photos for each scene ofthe virtual tour; and generating the plurality of content blocks basedon the plurality of 360-degree photos.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers comprise one or morecontent block storage servers and one or more command synchronizationservers that are geographically distributed.

According to another aspect, another method for sharing views of digitalfiles is provided. The method may be implemented by a host computerdevice sharing the digital files with one or more viewer devices. Anexample method may include: receiving, by a viewer computer device froma host computer device, one or more storage addresses of one or morecontent blocks representing a view of a digital file, wherein the one ormore storage addresses correspond to the one or more content blocks in aserver, and the one or more content blocks are a subset of a pluralityof content blocks generated based on the digital file; retrieving, bythe viewer computer device from the server, the one or more contentblocks based on the one or more storage addresses; and receiving, by theviewer computer device from the host computer device, one or more hostcommands executed on the host computer device for managing a view of thedigital file; and executing, by the viewer computer device, the one ormore host commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks forsynchronizing the view of the digital file between the viewer computerdevice and the host computer device.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: transmitting, by theviewer computer device to the host computer device, a request forpresenting; upon receiving an approval of the request from the hostcomputer device, executing, by the viewer computer device, one or moreviewer commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks to managethe view of the digital file; and transmitting, by the viewer computerdevice, the one or more viewer commands to the host computer device forthe host computer device to execute the one or more viewer commands.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: transmitting, by theviewer computer device to the host computer device, a request forpresenting; upon receiving an approval of the request from the hostcomputer device, one or more viewer commands on a subset of one or moreretrieved content blocks; and transmitting, by the viewer computerdevice, identifiers of the subset of the one or more retrieved contentblocks and the one or more viewer commands to the host computer devicefor the host computer device to execute the one or more viewer commandson content blocks corresponding to the identifiers.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving, by theviewer computer device, a solo-mode starting command; and executing, bythe viewer computer device, one or more viewer commands on the one ormore retrieved content blocks without synchronizing with the hostcomputer device or another viewer computer device.

In some embodiments, the plurality of content blocks representing thedigital file are generated by: generating a plurality of versions of thedigital file; and generating a plurality of content blocks based on theplurality of versions of the digital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises an ultra-high resolutionimage, and the generating the plurality of versions of the digital filecomprises: downsampling the ultra-high resolution image to obtain one ormore downsampled images with resolutions lower than an originalresolution of the ultra-high resolution image.

In some embodiments, the generating the plurality of content blocks ofthe digital file comprises: generating one or more first content blocksbased on the ultra-high resolution image; generating one or more secondcontent blocks based on the one or more downsampled images; andaggregating the one or more first content blocks and the one or moresecond content blocks to form the plurality of content blocks of thedigital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a deck of slides, andthe plurality of content blocks are generated by: mapping the deck ofslides into an ultra-high resolution image according to a host-definedconfiguration, wherein the host-defined configuration comprises anlocation and a size of each slide, and generating the plurality ofcontent blocks based on the ultra-high resolution image.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a video, and theplurality of content blocks are generated by: splitting the video into aplurality of video clips based on a host-defined clip length; andgenerating the plurality of content blocks of the video based on theplurality of video clips.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a virtual tour, and theplurality of content blocks are generated by: generating a plurality of360-degree photos for each scene of the virtual tour; and generating theplurality of content blocks based on the plurality of 360-degree photos.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers comprise one or morecontent block storage servers and one or more command synchronizationservers that are geographically distributed.

In some embodiments, the one or more host commands comprise at least oneof: a zoom command; a rotation command; an annotation command; anavigation command; a command to add an object to the view of thedigital file; or a command to delete or adjust an object in the view ofthe digital file.

According to yet another aspect, a computer system is provided. Thecomputer system may comprise one or more processors and one or morenon-transitory computer-readable memories coupled to the one or moreprocessors and configured with instructions executable by the one ormore processors to cause the computer system to perform theabove-described methods.

According to still another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium is provided. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium may be configured with instructions executable by one or moreprocessors to cause the one or more processors to perform theabove-described methods.

Embodiments disclosed in the specification have a plurality of technicaleffects. In some embodiments, a host device (e.g., a computer or smartdevice) may generate a plurality of content blocks based on a digitalfile for view sharing. Such digital file may include ultra-highresolution images/photos, videos, slides, virtual tours, etc. Thecontent blocks may be generated to represent different versions of thedigital file. For example, assuming the digital file is an ultra-highresolution image, the content blocks may be collected from a pluralityof versions of the image at different resolution levels. This way, afirst subset of the content blocks may represent the image at itshighest resolution, a second subset of the content blocks may representthe image at a lower resolution level, and a third subset of the contentblocks may represent the image at its lowest resolution level. Thiscontent block-based representation of the digital image allows viewersto obtain content blocks of interest as a batch, and view the digitalimage at different resolutions by directly reading the correspondingcontent blocks without performing image compressing or decompressing.

In some embodiments, these content blocks may be uploaded to and storedin one or more geographically distributed servers. When the host triesto share a view of the digital file, such as a portion of an ultra-highresolution imaging, the storage addresses of the content blockscorresponding to the portion may be determined by the host device. The“storage addresses” may refer to some identifiers (e.g., hash values, oroffsets and lengths) indicating where the content blocks are stored inthe servers. The host may then transmit these storage addresses to theviewers for the viewers to retrieve the content blocks from the servers.During this process, the viewers may select the server(s) in its closeproximity (thus with the optimal data transfer rate) to retrieve thecontent blocks. When the host needs to operate the view of the portionof the ultra-high resolution image and synchronize with the viewers, thehost may execute host commands (e.g., zoom in/out, rotation, annotation,navigating, adding, deleting, adjusting objects in the imaging) againstthe content blocks on the host device and transmit the host commands tothe viewers for execution against the content blocks stored in theviewer devices.

The embodiments described herein offer at least three technicaladvantages. First, the host does not need to capture, compress, andtransmit the views of the digital files (in the form of screenshots)during a view-sharing session in real-time to the viewers. Instead, thehost may preprocess the digital files to generate and upload the contentblocks to servers. During the view-sharing session, the datatransmission from the host to the viewers includes the storage addressesof the content blocks of interest. Since the storage addresses are smallin data volume, the communication burden between the host and theviewers is significantly reduced. In addition, the host can select onlythe content blocks of interest to share rather than the entire digitalfile. Second, each viewer may determine one or more servers based ongeographic proximity to retrieve the content blocks. This way, thenetwork traffic among the geographically distributed servers iseffectively distributed, and the viewers can obtain the content blocksfrom the servers with the fastest network connections. Third, the hostcan manage the view of the digital file during a view sharing session byexecuting corresponding host commands and transmit these host commandsto the viewers. Since both the host and the viewers have already storedthe content blocks locally, the view synchronization between the hostand the viewers can be easily achieved by the viewers executing the samehost commands against the content blocks stored on the viewer devices.The host commands are small data packages that can be easily handled,and thereby minimizing the data transferring burden and thesynchronization delay between the host and the viewers.

In some embodiments, the host may allow some or all of the viewers toenter a solo-mode, in which a viewer may freely execute viewer commandsagainst the content blocks retrieved from the servers based on thestorage addresses transmitted from the host. It means, the host mayspecify a portion of an image or video to be shared with the viewer, andthe viewer may freely manage the views but strictly within the portionof the image, such as zoom in/out or annotation for self-learning orself-exploring. This is not supported by today's screen-sharing-basedplatforms where the host and the viewers have to be completely in sync.

These and other features of the systems, methods, and non-transitorycomputer-readable media disclosed herein, as well as the methods ofoperation and functions of the related elements of structure and thecombination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become moreapparent upon consideration of the following description and theappended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all ofwhich form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to beexpressly understood, however, that the drawings are for purposes ofillustration and description only and are not intended as a definitionof the limits of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment for optimized view sharingin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary swimlane diagram for optimized viewsharing in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2B illustrates another exemplary swimlane diagram for optimizedview sharing in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2C illustrates yet another exemplary swimlane diagram for optimizedview sharing in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary diagram for generating content blocks inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method for optimized view sharing inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary method for optimized view sharingin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system for optimizedview sharing in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computing device in which any of theembodiments described herein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This specification describes various embodiments for optimizing theperformance of view sharing of digital files and offering new featuresthat are not readily available in existing solutions. The description ispresented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use theembodiments, and is provided in the context of a particular applicationand its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodimentswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generalprinciples defined herein may be applied to other embodiments andapplications without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentspecification. Thus, the specification is not limited to the embodimentsshown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with theprinciples and features disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment for optimized view sharingin accordance with some embodiments. The exemplary framework involves ahost device 110, one or more client devices 120, and a server 130,communicating via communication channels. The host device 110 may alsobe referred to as the presenter, and the client devices 120 may also bereferred to as the viewers.

In some embodiments, the server 130 may include a computing system or acomputing device. Although one server 130 is shown in FIG. 1 , anynumber of computing devices may work collectively and be treated as theserver 130. The server 130 may be implemented in one or more networks(e.g., enterprise networks), one or more endpoints, one or more datacenters, or one or more clouds. The server 130 may include hardwareand/or software that manages access to a centralized resource or servicein a network. A cloud may include a cluster of servers and other devicesdistributed across a network. In some embodiments, the server 130 mayinclude one or more servers that are geographically distributed toprovide fast delivery of content blocks or fast synchronization, e.g.,through a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Amazon CloudFront.

In some embodiments, the host device 110 and the client device 120 mayinclude various types of terminal devices, such as a mobile phone, atablet, a server, a cluster of servers, a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, etc. The server 130 may communicate with the host and clientdevices, and other computing devices. Communication between devices mayoccur over the internet, through a local network (e.g., LAN), throughdirect communication (e.g., BLUETOOTH™, radio frequency, infrared), etc.

In some embodiments, the host device 110 may possess a digital file 112to be view-shared with the client devices 120 in a synchronized way,e.g., both the presenter and the viewers share the same view of thedigital file 112. The view of the digital file 112 may include a subsetof the digital file 112, such as a portion of an ultra-high resolutionWhole Slide imaging (WSI) with megapixels, a portion of an ultra-highresolution video, a portion of a virtual tour video, a portion of acollage of digital images, or another suitable data. In someembodiments, the host device may generate a plurality of content blocks135 based on the digital file 112 to represent different versions of thedigital file 112. For instance, some of the content blocks 135 may begenerated to represent the digital file 112 at its highest resolution,while some other content blocks 135 may be generated to represent thedigital file 112 at its lowest resolution. In some embodiments, theplurality of content blocks 135 may be generated by splitting thedigital file 112 into small chunks.

The content blocks 135 may be transmitted to the server 130 to be storedin a database 132. The database 132 may be within or detached from theserver 130. In some embodiments, if the server 130 includes multiplegeographically located servers, the content blocks 135 may be copied toall the servers for distributed storage.

When the host device 110 is to share a view of the digital file 112, itmay first determine the content blocks corresponding to the view. Forexample, if the view of the digital file 112 is a portion of anultra-high resolution image, the corresponding content blocks mayinclude the content blocks representing the portion at differentresolution levels (e.g., the highest resolution, the lower resolution,the lowest resolution). The host device 110 may then determine thestorage addresses 114A of these content blocks stored in the server 130,such as content block identifiers, combos of offsets and lengths, etc.These storage addresses 114A may be transmitted to the client devices120. Based on the storage addresses 114A, the client devices 120 maymake requests 138 to retrieve the corresponding content blocks from theserver 130 and store them locally.

In some embodiments, when the host device 110 decides to manage the viewof the digital file 112, it may execute the corresponding host commands114B to, for example, zoom in/out, navigate (such as “pan” command),rotate, annotate, add/delete/adjust objects, or perform other suitableoperations. These changes to the view of the digital file 112 need to bereflected on the client devices 120 with a minimized delay so that thehost and the clients (viewers) have a synchronized view of the digitalfile 112. In some embodiments, since both the host device 110 and theclient devices 120 have already stored the content blocks of interestlocally, the host device 110 can simply transmit the executed hostcommands 114B to the client devices 120 for execution. This way, thevolume of data transmitted from the host device 110 to the client device120 is minimized by merely transmitting the storage addresses 114A andthe host commands 114B, and avoiding transmitting the actual data of thedigital file 112. In some embodiments, the data transmission between thehost device 110 and the client devices 120 may go through one or moresynchronization servers 140. The existence of the synchronizationservers 140 may offer technical benefits such as easy client devicemanagement, maintenance, message tracing, etc.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary swimlane diagram for optimized viewsharing in accordance with some embodiments. The diagram illustrates theinteraction among a host device 210, a server 200, and a viewer device230 for view sharing with minimal data exchange and thus minimal delay.The viewer device 230 may refer to any one of the client devices 114 inFIG. 1 . The steps in FIG. 2A are for illustrative purposes, which mayinclude more, fewer, or alternative steps depending on theimplementation. The steps may also be executed in various orders or inparallel.

When the host device 210 and the viewer device 230 are to perform viewsharing of a digital file, in some embodiments, the host device 210 mayperform preprocessing of the digital file. As shown in FIG. 2A, the hostdevice may generate a plurality of content blocks (CBs) based on thedigital file at step 212. In some embodiments, the CBs may be generatedin various ways depending on the file type of the digital file. Forexample, if the digital file is an ultra-high-resolution image such as aWhole Slide Imaging (WSI) file with megapixels, a collage of digitalarts or slides, a photo, etc., the CBs may be generated by (1) croppingthe image into small chunks; (2) generating multiple versions of thesmall chunks at different resolution levels (e.g., the originalultra-high-resolution level and one or more lower-resolution levels);and (3) generating the CBs based on the small chunks at differentresolution levels. Each small chunk may be its original size or resized.As another example, if the digital file is an ultra-high resolutionimage, the CBs may be generated by (1) generating multiple versions ofthe image at different resolution levels; (2) for each version of theimage, cropping the version into small chunks; and (3) generating theCBs based on the small chunks. Yet as another example, if the digitalfile is a video or a virtual tour, the CBs may be generated by (1)cropping the digital file (e.g., the 360-degree videos in the virtualtour) into small clips; (2) generating multiple versions of the smallclips at different resolution levels (e.g., the originalultra-high-resolution level, e.g., 8K, and one or more lower resolutionlevels, e.g., 4K, 1080p, 720p); and (3) generating the CBs based on thesmall clips. More details about the generation of CBs may refer to thedescription for FIG. 3 .

In some embodiments, the generated CBs may be uploaded to the server 200at step 213 for storage. When the server 200 includes a plurality ofgeographically distributed servers, the CB s may be replicated to eachof the servers. During the process of generating and storing CBs, thehost device 210 may learn the knowledge of the storage addresses of theCBs in the server 200 at step 214 via various means. For example, theserver 200 may return such storage addresses of the CBs back to the hostdevice after the CBs are stored. As another example, the host maygenerate a hash value for each CB using a hash algorithm and the servermay retrieve the corresponding CB upon receiving the hash value. Assuch, the “storage addresses” here may be implemented as hash values,combos of offsets and lengths, or other suitable forms of identifiers.

After the preprocessing is finished, the host device 210 and the viewerdevice 230 may start the view sharing process. In some embodiments, thehost device 210 may first determine a view of the digital file to sharewith the viewer device 230. The determined view may correspond to one ormore CBs. For instance, if the host device 210 is to share a section ofan ultra-high resolution Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) file with megapixels,the CBs covering the specific section may be identified by the hostdevice. The CB s may include the section of the imaging at differentresolution levels. Once the CBs are identified, the host device 210 maysend the corresponding storage addresses to the viewer device 230 atstep 215. The storage addresses are metadata information that areusually small in size. The viewer device 230 may subsequently requestfor the CBs based on the storage addresses received from the host device210 at step 231. For instance, if the server 200 includes a plurality ofgeographically distributed servers managed by a Content Delivery Network(CDN), the viewer device 230 may send the requested CB storage addressesto the CDN (e.g., via a web address of the CDN). The CDN mayautomatically identify one or more servers in the closest proximity tothe viewer device 230 or having the fastest transferring rate from/tothe viewer device 230, and then forward the DB storage addresses to theidentified servers to request for the corresponding CBs Based on the CBstorage addresses, the server 200 may return the requested CBs to theviewer device 230.

At this point, both the host device 210 and the viewer device 230possess the CBs corresponding to the view of the digital file to beshared. In some embodiments, the host device 216 may configure the viewsettings by executing corresponding view-setting commands (e.g.,navigating, zooming, rotating). These view-setting commands may then betransmitted to the viewer device 230 at step 216. The viewer device 230may execute the same view-setting commands locally to synchronize itsview settings with the view settings of the host device 210 at step 232.

During the view sharing process, the host device 210 may also manage theview of the digital file by executing corresponding host commands atstep 217. The host commands may include a zoom command, a rotationcommand, an annotation command, a navigation command (such as a pancommand), a command to add an object to the view of the digital file, ora command to delete or adjust an object in the view of the digital file,another suitable command, or any combination thereof. For example, thehost may adjust the view, add new content (annotation, etc.) to theview, delete or adjust objects in the view. These view managementactions may be promptly synchronized to the viewer device bytransmitting the host commands executed by the host device 210 to theviewer device 230 at step 218. The host commands are small data packagesand thus the data transmission may merely cause minimal delay. Theviewer device 230 may then execute the host commands against the CBsstored locally at step 232, thereby synchronizing the view between thehost device 210 and the viewer device 230.

In the embodiments described above, the data transfer between the hostdevice 210 and the viewer device 230 is minimized to include only the CBstorage addresses, viewer setting commands, and host commands, whicheffectively minimizes the delay before the views on the host device 210and the viewer device 230 are synchronized. This approach provides atleast two technical improvements over the existing live-meetingplatforms that relied on capturing screenshots, compressing screenshots,and transmitting screenshots in real-time. First, the resolution of thescreenshots is limited by the maximum resolution supported by either thehost's screen or the live-meeting platforms, which may be nowhere closeto the original ultra-high resolution of the digital file. In contrast,the resolution of the shared views in the above-described embodiments isnot limited by these factors. Second, if the live-meeting platformsincrease the resolution of the screenshots to the maximum, such as 4K,the amount of data to be transferred grows. It means the delay beforesynchronization will increase as well. In the embodiments describedabove, the amount of data transfer is minimized and is irrelevant to theresolution of the views, which provides a much smooth view sharing andlow latency.

In some embodiments, the host device 210 may directly upload theoriginal ultra-high resolution images/videos/virtual tour files to theserver 200. The server 200 may generate the CBs based on the uploadedfiles and send the corresponding CB storage addresses back to the hostdevice 210. For example, the host device 210 may refer to a browser or alocal API offering interfaces for uploading the ultra-high-resolutionfiles (e.g., like Software as a Service framework), and the server 200(e.g., a cloud server) does the heavy lifting (e.g., the CB generation).This way, the host device 210 does not have to be equipped withextensive computing resources, and thus the entire workflow shown inFIG. 2A may be easier deployable in edge computing environments (e.g.,with the host device 210 and viewer device 230 as edge devices).

FIG. 2B illustrates another exemplary swimlane diagram for optimizedview sharing in accordance with some embodiments. The diagramillustrates the interaction among a host device 210, a server 200, andviewer devices 230 and 240 for view sharing with minimal data exchangeand thus minimal delay. In the diagram of FIG. 2B, the viewer device 230takes the control of the view sharing. The steps in FIG. 2B are forillustrative purposes, which may include more, fewer, or alternativesteps depending on the implementation. The steps may also be executed invarious orders or in parallel. For simplicity, the preprocessing stepsillustrated in FIG. 2A such as 212-214 are omitted in FIG. 2B.

In some embodiments, the host device 210 may initiate a view sharingsession by sending the storage addresses of CB s of interest to theviewer devices 230 and 240 at steps 219A and 219B respectively. Theviewer devices 230 and 240 may request the CBs from the server 200 atsteps 231 and 241, respectively, and receive the CBs at steps 232 and242, respectively. This way, both viewer devices 230 and 240 possess theCBs of the view of the digital file that the host device 210 shares.

In some cases, during the view sharing session, one viewer device mayrequest to lead the view sharing. For example, when a professor (host)shares a view of Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) file with megapixels during aclass, a student (viewer) may want to ask questions about a particularportion of the image. In this case, the student (viewer) may request totake the control of the view sharing. Once the professor (host) approvesthe request, the student (viewer) may present the particular portion ofthe image to the professor (host) and other fellow students (viewers)and perform various operations against the view such as zoom in/out,pan/navigate left/right/up/down, rotate, annotate, add/delete/adjustobjects, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the viewer device 230 makes a request for controlor a request for presenting at step 233, and the host device 210approves the request at step 234. After being approved, the viewerdevice 230 may lead the view sharing and execute viewer commands tomanage the view being shared. It may be noted that the viewer device 230may only execute the viewer commands against the content blocks that areidentified by the host device 210 and retrieved from the server 200, butnot any other portions of the digital file.

In some embodiments, once the viewer device 230 executes the viewercommands against some of the CBs locally stored, it may send theseviewer commands and identifiers of the CBs to the host device 210. Thehost device 210 may execute these viewer commands against its locallystored CBs at step 220 to synchronize with the viewer device 230. Inaddition, the host device 210 may broadcast the viewer commands and theidentifiers of the CBs to other viewer devices such as viewer device240. The viewer device 240 may similarly execute the viewer commandsagainst its locally stored CBs to synchronize with the host device 210and the viewer device 230.

FIG. 2C illustrates yet another exemplary swimlane diagram for optimizedview sharing in accordance with some embodiments. The diagramillustrates the interaction among a host device 210, a server 200, and aviewer device 230 for view sharing with minimal data exchange and thusminimal delay. In the diagram of FIG. 2C, the viewer device 230 enters asolo-mode that is granted by the host device 210. While the viewerdevice 230 is in the solo mode, the view synchronization between thehost device 210 and the viewer device is temporarily suspended, and theviewer device 230 may manage the view shared by the host device 210freely. The steps in FIG. 2C are for illustrative purposes, which mayinclude more, fewer, or alternative steps depending on theimplementation. The steps may also be executed in various orders or inparallel. For simplicity, the preprocessing steps illustrated in FIG. 2A(e.g., 212-215) are omitted in FIG. 2C.

In some embodiments, after the viewer device 230 requested and receivedthe CBs from the server 200 based on the CB storage addresses receivedfrom the host device 210 at step 232, the host sharing the view of adigital file may allow viewers to freely browse or manage the sharedview. Using the same example where a professor (host) shares a view(e.g., a portion or a section) of a Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) file withmegapixels during a class, the professor may specify a portion of theimage for students to freely explore. As shown in FIG. 2C, the hostdevice may send a solo-mode starting command to the viewer device atstep 222. The viewer device 230 may then freely execute commands toadjust view settings at step 234 and/or execute viewer command at step235 to manage the view. Noted that the “freedom of management” of theviewer device 230 is restricted to the view, i.e., the CBs, specified bythe host device 210.

In some embodiments, the host device 210 may allow multiple viewers toenter the solo-mode. It means, a viewer device may manage the viewsetting or the view itself differently from other viewer devices at agiven point in time, but all viewer devices are still under therestriction (e.g., which view is being shared) set by the host device210.

In some embodiments, the host device 210 may request synchronizationwith one of the viewer devices such as viewer device 230 at step 223A.For instance, after the professor allows the students to freely browsethe imaging of the WSI file, the professor may sync with one of thestudents for monitoring. In this case, the synchronization request 223Afrom the host device 210 may be unconditionally approved. In response,the host device 210 may receive the current view settings and/or viewercommands from the viewer device 230 for execution and synchronization.

At some point, the host device 210 may decide to send a solo-mode endingcommand to the viewer device 230 at step 224. Upon receiving suchcommand, the viewer device 230 may need to re-establish the synchronizedview with the host device 210. For instance, the viewer device 230 maystore or receive the view settings and/or view management commands(collectively referred to as host commands) from the host device 210,and execute the host commands to re-sync with the host device 210.

The solo-mode view sharing functionality is not available in today'sliving-meeting platforms. For example, at any given time in a typicallive-meeting platform, only one user is allowed to actively operatingthe view of the digital file. In the above-described embodiments,however, the host device 210 and the viewer devices such as 230 mayoperate the view of the digital file in different ways temporarily.Furthermore, the viewer devices in solo-mode are not disconnected fromthe host device 210 or without any restrictions. The host device 210 mayspecify the range or scope in which the viewer devices perform theoperations freely. The host device 210 may also terminate the solo-modeby sending the solo-mode ending command.

In some embodiments, the viewer devices such as the viewer device 230may enter a presentation mode by accessing a predetermined web addressof a web server (e.g., an HTTP/HTTPS server) without the initiativesfrom the host device 210 (e.g., the steps 222 and 224 in FIG. 2C may beskipped). For example, the viewer device 210 may access the web addressto automatically execute the starting/ending commands to enter thepresentation mode and other viewer commands to configure the defaultviews.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary diagram for generating content blocks(CBs) in accordance with some embodiments. The process of generating CBsin FIG. 3 is for illustrative purposes. It may be implemented indifferent ways depending on the type of digital file. For simplicity,FIG. 3 shows how CBs 310 of an ultra-high resolution image 300 aregenerated.

As shown, the ultra-high resolution image 300 may be downsampled intoone or more images with lower resolutions, such as the image 302 with alower resolution and the image 303 with a host-defined lowestresolution. Here, “downsample” may refer to signal processing techniques(also referred to as compression or decimation) that reduce samplingrates or sampling size in order to reduce the amount of data to betransferred at the expense of the quality of the original signal. Forinstance, downsampling of a digital image may include the reduction inspatial resolution while keeping the same two-dimensional (2D)representation. The content blocks (CBs) 310 of the ultra-highresolution image 300 may be generated based on not only the originalfile (with the highest resolution) but also the downsampled images. Forinstance, the ultra-high resolution image 300 may be segmented into N×Mchunks, with each chunk being a CB. The image 302 with a lowerresolution level may be segmented into N′×M′ chunks, where N′≤N andM′≤M. Similarly, the image 303 with the lowest host-defined resolutionlevel may be segmented into N″×M″ chunks, where N″≤N′≤N and M″≤M′≤M.

In some embodiments, the CBs 310 may be randomly sorted when beingstored on servers (e.g., in a Content Delivery Network (CDN)). Thepurpose of randomly sorting is for protecting data privacy andpreventing the viewers from exploring the storage pattern (e.g., thepattern of the storage addresses) of the CBs.

In some embodiments, the digital file may include a plurality of slidesfor presentation. In this case, the generation of CBs may start withmapping each slide into an ultra-high resolution image as a collage, andeach slide may be of the original size or resized. The top-left positionof each slide may be defined by the host or assigned randomly. Afterobtaining the ultra-high resolution image including all the slides, theCBs may be generated similarly as the way illustrated in FIG. 3 .

In some embodiments, the digital file may include a video file. Thevideo file may be segmented into a plurality of small video clips, withthe length of each video clip being defined by the host, such as 10seconds. In some embodiments, the small video clips may then be shuffledrandomly and stored as the CBs on the servers. In other embodiments,each video clip may be downsampled or compressed into one or moreversions with lower resolution levels. Then the different versions ofthe video clips may be randomly shuffled and stored as the CBs on theservers.

In some embodiments, the digital file may include a virtual tour of, forexample, a museum, a house for sale, a scenic spot. To generate CBs, oneor more 360-degree photos for each scene of the virtual tour may becollected. In some embodiments, these 360-degree photos may be randomlyshuffled and stored as the CBs on the servers. In other embodiments,each 360-degree photo may be downsampled or compressed into one or moreversions with lower resolution levels. Then the different versions ofthe 360-degree photos may be randomly shuffled and stored as the CBs onthe servers.

The “random shuffle” step in the above-described process is to protectdata privacy and prevent the viewers from exploring and learning thestorage patterns (e.g., the pattern of the storage addresses) of theCBs. For example, if the CBs are arranged in a predicted way (e.g.,sequentially), a viewer who has downloaded a large number of CBs mayaggregate the CBs to reverse-engineer the original digital file. The“random shuffle” effectively keeps the viewers in the dark and preventsreverse-engineering the original digital files.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method 400 for optimized view sharing inaccordance with some embodiments. The method 400 may be performed by acomputer device, apparatus, or system. The method 400 may be performedby one or more modules/components of the environment or systemillustrated by FIGS. 1-3 , such as the host device 110 in FIG. 1 . Theoperations of the method 400 presented below are intended to beillustrative. Depending on the implementation, the method 400 mayinclude additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in variousorders or parallel.

Block 410 includes generating, by a host computer device, a plurality ofcontent blocks of a digital file and uploading the plurality of contentblocks to one or more servers for storage. In some embodiments, thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: generating, by the host computer device, a plurality ofversions of the digital file; and generating, by the host computerdevice, a plurality of content blocks based on the plurality of versionsof the digital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises an ultra-high resolutionimage, and the generating the plurality of versions of the digital filecomprises: downsampling the ultra-high resolution image to obtain one ormore downsampled images with resolutions lower than an originalresolution of the ultra-high resolution image. In some embodiments, thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: generating one or more first content blocks based on theultra-high resolution image; generating one or more second contentblocks based on the one or more downsampled images; and aggregating theone or more first content blocks and the one or more second contentblocks to form the plurality of content blocks of the digital file.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a deck of slides, andthe generating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: mapping the deck of slides into an ultra-high resolutionimage according to a host-defined configuration, wherein thehost-defined configuration comprises an location and a size of eachslide; and generating the plurality of content blocks based on theultra-high resolution image.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a video, and thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: segmenting the video into a plurality of video clips based ona host-defined clip length; and generating the plurality of contentblocks of the video based on the plurality of video clips. In someembodiments, the one or more host commands managing the view of thedigital file comprises at least one of: a pause command; a resumecommand; a command for configuring starting time; or a command forconfiguring a playback speed.

In some embodiments, the digital file comprises a virtual tour, and thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: generating a plurality of 360-degree photos for each scene ofthe virtual tour; and generating the plurality of content blocks basedon the plurality of 360-degree photos.

Block 420 includes determining, by the host computer device, one or moreof the plurality of content blocks representing a view of the digitalfile to share with one or more viewer computer devices.

Block 430 includes transmitting, by the host computer device, storageaddresses of the one or more determined content blocks to the one ormore viewer computer devices for the one or more viewer computer devicesto retrieve the one or more determined content blocks from the one ormore servers based on the storage addresses. In some embodiments, theone or more servers comprise one or more content block storage serversand one or more command synchronization servers that are geographicallydistributed.

Block 440 includes executing, by the host computer device, one or morehost commands to the one or more determined content blocks on the hostcomputer device for managing the view of the digital file.

Block 450 includes transmitting, by the host computer device, the one ormore host commands to the one or more viewer computer devices forexecution, thereby synchronizing the view of the digital file betweenthe one or more viewer computer devices and the host computer device. Insome embodiments, the one or more host commands managing the view of thedigital file comprises at least one of: a zoom command; a rotationcommand; an annotation command; a navigation command; a command to addan object to the view of the digital file; or a command to delete oradjust an object in the view of the digital file.

In some embodiments, the method 400 may further include receiving, bythe host computer device, a request for presenting from one of the oneor more viewer computer devices; upon approval of the request,receiving, by the host computer device, one or more viewer commands fromthe one viewer computer device for managing the view of the digitalfile; executing, by the host computer device, the one or more viewercommands on the one or more determined content blocks stored in the hostcomputer device, thereby synchronizing the view of the digital filebetween the one or more viewer computer devices and the host computerdevice; and forwarding, by the host computer device, the one or moreviewer commands to other viewer computer devices for synchronization.

In some embodiments, the method 400 may further include receiving, bythe host computer device, a request for presenting from one of the oneor more viewer computer devices; upon approval of the request,receiving, by the host computer device, identifiers of a subset of theone or more determined content blocks and one or more viewer commandsfrom the one viewer computer device; identifying, by the host computerdevice, the subset of the one or more determined content blocks on thehost computer device based on the identifiers and executing the one ormore viewer commands on the subset; and forwarding, by the host computerdevice, the identifiers and the one or more viewer commands to otherviewer computer devices.

In some embodiments, the method 400 may further include transmitting, bythe host computer device to the viewer computer device, a solo-modestarting command allowing the viewer computer device to execute viewercommands managing the one or more determined content blocks withoutsynchronizing with the host computer device or another viewer computerdevice.

In some embodiments, the method 400 may further include transmitting, bythe host computer device to the viewer computer device, a solo-modeending command for the viewer computer device to execute the one or morehost commands and re-synchronize with the host computer device.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary method 500 for optimized viewsharing in accordance with some embodiments. The method 500 may beperformed by a computer device, apparatus, or system. The method 500 maybe performed by one or more modules/components of the environment orsystem illustrated by FIGS. 1-3 , such as the client device 120 in FIG.1 . The operations of the method 500 presented below are intended to beillustrative. Depending on the implementation, the method 500 mayinclude additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in variousorders or parallel.

Block 510 includes receiving, by a viewer computer device from a hostcomputer device, one or more storage addresses of one or more contentblocks representing a view of a digital file, wherein the one or morestorage addresses correspond to the one or more content blocks in aserver, and the one or more content blocks are a subset of a pluralityof content blocks generated based on the digital file. In someembodiments, the plurality of content blocks representing the digitalfile are generated by: generating a plurality of versions of the digitalfile; and generating a plurality of content blocks based on theplurality of versions of the digital file.

Block 520 includes retrieving, by the viewer computer device from theserver, the one or more content blocks based on the one or more storageaddresses.

Block 530 includes receiving, by the viewer computer device from thehost computer device, one or more host commands executed on the hostcomputer device for managing a view of the digital file.

Block 540 includes executing, by the viewer computer device, the one ormore host commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks forsynchronizing the view of the digital file between the viewer computerdevice and the host computer device.

In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include transmitting, bythe viewer computer device to the host computer device, a request forpresenting; upon receiving an approval of the request from the hostcomputer device, executing, by the viewer computer device, one or moreviewer commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks to managethe view of the digital file; and transmitting, by the viewer computerdevice, the one or more viewer commands to the host computer device forthe host computer device to execute the one or more viewer commands.

In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include transmitting, bythe viewer computer device to the host computer device, a request forpresenting; upon receiving an approval of the request from the hostcomputer device, one or more viewer commands on a subset of one or moreretrieved content blocks; and transmitting, by the viewer computerdevice, identifiers of the subset of the one or more retrieved contentblocks and the one or more viewer commands to the host computer devicefor the host computer device to execute the one or more viewer commandson content blocks corresponding to the identifiers.

In some embodiments, the method 500 may further include receiving, bythe viewer computer device, a solo-mode starting command; and executing,by the viewer computer device, one or more viewer commands on the one ormore retrieved content blocks without synchronizing with the hostcomputer device or another viewer computer device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system 600 foroptimized view sharing in accordance with some embodiments. The computersystem 600 may be an example of an implementation of one or more modulesin FIGS. 1-5 , or one or more other components illustrated in FIGS. 1-5. The methods 400 and 500 in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be implemented by thecomputer system 600. The computer system 600 may comprise one or moreprocessors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia (e.g., one or more memories) coupled to the one or more processorsand configured with instructions executable by the one or moreprocessors to cause the system or device (e.g., the processor) toperform the above-described method, e.g., the method 500. The computersystem 600 may comprise various units/modules corresponding to theinstructions (e.g., software instructions).

In some embodiments, the computer system 600 may include a content block(CB) generating module 610, a CB storing module 620, a CB sharing module630, a CB address transmitting module 640, a command executing module650, and a command transmitting module 660. In some embodiments, the CBgenerating module 610 may be configured to generate a plurality ofcontent blocks of a digital file; the CB storing module 620 may beconfigured to upload the plurality of content blocks to one or moreservers for storage; the CB sharing module 630 may be configured todetermine one or more of the plurality of content blocks representing aview of the digital file to share with one or more viewer computerdevices; the CB address transmitting module 640 may be configured totransmit storage addresses of the one or more determined content blocksto the one or more viewer computer devices for the one or more viewercomputer devices to retrieve the one or more determined content blocksfrom the one or more servers based on the storage addresses; the commandexecuting module 650 may be configured to execute one or more hostcommands to the one or more determined content blocks on the hostcomputer device for managing the view of the digital file; and thecommand transmitting module 660 may be configured to transmit the one ormore host commands to the one or more viewer computer devices forexecution, thereby synchronizing the view of the digital file betweenthe one or more viewer computer devices and the host computer device.

The techniques described herein may be implemented by one or morespecial-purpose computing devices. The special-purpose computing devicesmay be desktop computer systems, server computer systems, portablecomputer systems, handheld devices, networking devices or any otherdevice or combination of devices that incorporate hard-wired and/orprogram logic to implement the techniques. The special-purpose computingdevices may be implemented as personal computers, laptops, cellularphones, camera phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, mediaplayers, navigation devices, email devices, game consoles, tabletcomputers, wearable devices, or a combination thereof. Computingdevice(s) may be generally controlled and coordinated by operatingsystem software. Conventional operating systems control and schedulecomputer processes for execution, perform memory management, providefile system, networking, I/O services, and provide a user interfacefunctionality, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among otherthings. The various systems, apparatuses, storage media, modules, andunits described herein may be implemented in the special-purposecomputing devices, or one or more computing chips of the one or morespecial-purpose computing devices. In some embodiments, the instructionsdescribed herein may be implemented in a virtual machine on thespecial-purpose computing device. When executed, the instructions maycause the special-purpose computing device to perform various methodsdescribed herein. The virtual machine may include a software, hardware,or a combination thereof.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computing device in which any of theembodiments described herein may be implemented. The computing devicemay be used to implement one or more components of the systems and themethods shown in FIGS. 1-6 The computing device 700 may comprise a bus702 or other communication mechanism for communicating information andone or more hardware processors 704 coupled with bus 702 for processinginformation. Hardware processor(s) 704 may be, for example, one or moregeneral purpose microprocessors.

The computing device 700 may also include a main memory 707, such as arandom-access memory (RAM), cache and/or other dynamic storage devices,coupled to bus 702 for storing information and instructions to beexecuted by processor(s) 704. Main memory 707 also may be used forstoring temporary variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions to be executed by processor(s) 704. Suchinstructions, when stored in storage media accessible to processor(s)704, may render computing device 700 into a special-purpose machine thatis customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions.Main memory 707 may include non-volatile media and/or volatile media.Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disks.Volatile media may include dynamic memory. Common forms of media mayinclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solidstate drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, aCD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a DRAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM,NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or networked versions of thesame.

The computing device 700 may implement the techniques described hereinusing customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmwareand/or program logic which in combination with the computing device maycause or program computing device 700 to be a special-purpose machine.According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed bycomputing device 700 in response to processor(s) 704 executing one ormore sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 707.Such instructions may be read into main memory 707 from another storagemedium, such as storage device 709. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 707 may cause processor(s) 704 toperform the process steps described herein. For example, theprocesses/methods disclosed herein may be implemented by computerprogram instructions stored in main memory 707. When these instructionsare executed by processor(s) 704, they may perform the steps as shown incorresponding figures and described above. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions.

The computing device 700 also includes a communication interface 710coupled to bus 702. Communication interface 710 may provide a two-waydata communication coupling to one or more network links that areconnected to one or more networks. As another example, communicationinterface 710 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN (or WAN component tocommunicated with a WAN). Wireless links may also be implemented.

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processorsor processor-implemented engines may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented engines may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

Each process, method, and algorithm described in the preceding sectionsmay be embodied in, and fully or partially automated by, code modulesexecuted by one or more computer systems or computer processorscomprising computer hardware. The processes and algorithms may beimplemented partially or wholly in application-specific circuitry.

When the functions disclosed herein are implemented in the form ofsoftware functional units and sold or used as independent products, theycan be stored in a processor executable non-volatile computer readablestorage medium. Particular technical solutions disclosed herein (inwhole or in part) or aspects that contributes to current technologiesmay be embodied in the form of a software product. The software productmay be stored in a storage medium, comprising a number of instructionsto cause a computing device (which may be a personal computer, a server,a network device, and the like) to execute all or some steps of themethods of the embodiments of the present application. The storagemedium may comprise a flash drive, a portable hard drive, ROM, RAM, amagnetic disk, an optical disc, another medium operable to store programcode, or any combination thereof.

Particular embodiments further provide a system comprising a processorand a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions executable by the processor to cause the system to performoperations corresponding to steps in any method of the embodimentsdisclosed above. Particular embodiments further provide a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium configured with instructions executableby one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to performoperations corresponding to steps in any method of the embodimentsdisclosed above.

Embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented through a cloudplatform, a server or a server group (hereinafter collectively the“service system”) that interacts with a client. The client may be aterminal device, or a client registered by a user at a platform, whereinthe terminal device may be a mobile terminal, a personal computer (PC),and any device that may be installed with a platform applicationprogram.

The various features and processes described above may be usedindependently of one another or may be combined in various ways. Allpossible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method or processblocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processesdescribed herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, andthe blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in othersequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or statesmay be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, ormultiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state.The example blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel, orin some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removed fromthe disclosed example embodiments. The exemplary systems and componentsdescribed herein may be configured differently than described. Forexample, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged comparedto the disclosed example embodiments.

The various operations of exemplary methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by an algorithm. The algorithm may becomprised in program codes or instructions stored in a memory (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium described above). Suchalgorithm may comprise a machine learning algorithm. In someembodiments, a machine learning algorithm may not explicitly programcomputers to perform a function but can learn from training data to makea prediction model that performs the function.

The various operations of exemplary methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented enginesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions describedherein.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented engines. Moreover, the one or more processors mayalso operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application ProgramInterface (API)).

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processorsor processor-implemented engines may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented engines may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the subject matter has been described withreference to specific example embodiments, various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. Such embodimentsof the subject matter may be referred to herein, individually orcollectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and withoutintending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to anysingle disclosure or concept if more than one is, in fact, disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executedout of order from that shown or discussed, including substantiallyconcurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

As used herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expresslyindicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore,herein, “A, B, or C” means “A, B, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B,and C,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise bycontext. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unless expresslyindicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore,herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,” unlessexpressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.Moreover, plural instances may be provided for resources, operations, orstructures described herein as a single instance. Additionally,boundaries between various resources, operations, engines, and datastores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustratedin a context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocationsof functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In general, structures andfunctionality presented as separate resources in the exampleconfigurations may be implemented as a combined structure or resource.Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single resourcemay be implemented as separate resources. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within a scope ofembodiments of the present disclosure as represented by the appendedclaims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regardedin an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

The term “include” or “comprise” is used to indicate the existence ofthe subsequently declared features, but it does not exclude the additionof other features. Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,”“could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, orotherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intendedto convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments donot include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or moreembodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logicfor deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether thesefeatures, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed inany particular embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:receiving, by a viewer computer device from a host computer device, oneor more storage addresses of one or more content blocks representing aview of a digital file, wherein the one or more storage addressescorrespond to the one or more content blocks in a server, and the one ormore content blocks are a subset of a plurality of content blocksgenerated based on the digital file; retrieving, by the viewer computerdevice from the server, the one or more content blocks based on the oneor more storage addresses; receiving, by the viewer computer device fromthe host computer device, one or more host commands executed on the hostcomputer device for managing a view of the digital file; synchronizing,by the viewer computer device, the view of the digital file between theviewer computer device and the host computer device by executing the oneor more host commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks,receiving, by the viewer computer device from the host computer device,a solo-mode starting command; initiating, by the viewer computer device,a solo-mode that enables the viewer computer device to adjust a viewsetting of the digital file on the viewer computer device withoutsynchronizing with the view setting of the digital file on the hostcomputer device or any other viewer computer device, wherein the viewsetting comprises browsing, zooming, or rotating; receiving, by theviewer computer device from the host computer device, a solo-mode endingcommand; and re-syncing, by the viewer computer device, the view settingof the digital file on the viewer computer device to the view setting ofthe digital file on the host device.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transmitting, by the viewer computer device to the hostcomputer device, a request for presenting; upon receiving an approval ofthe request from the host computer device, executing, by the viewercomputer device, one or more viewer commands on the one or moreretrieved content blocks to manage the view of the digital file; andtransmitting, by the viewer computer device, the one or more viewercommands to the host computer device for the host computer device toexecute the one or more viewer commands.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: transmitting, by the viewer computer device to thehost computer device, a request for presenting; upon receiving anapproval of the request from the host computer device, one or moreviewer commands on a subset of one or more retrieved content blocks; andtransmitting, by the viewer computer device, identifiers of the subsetof the one or more retrieved content blocks and the one or more viewercommands to the host computer device for the host computer device toexecute the one or more viewer commands on content blocks correspondingto the identifiers.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality ofcontent blocks representing the digital file are generated by:generating a plurality of versions of the digital file; and generating aplurality of content blocks based on the plurality of versions of thedigital file.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the digital filecomprises an ultra-high resolution image, and the generating theplurality of versions of the digital file comprises: downsampling theultra-high resolution image to obtain one or more downsampled imageswith resolutions lower than an original resolution of the ultra-highresolution image.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the generating theplurality of content blocks of the digital file comprises: generatingone or more first content blocks based on the ultra-high resolutionimage; generating one or more second content blocks based on the one ormore downsampled images; and aggregating the one or more first contentblocks and the one or more second content blocks to form the pluralityof content blocks of the digital file.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe digital file comprises a deck of slides, and the plurality ofcontent blocks are generated by: mapping the deck of slides into anultra-high resolution image according to a host-defined configuration,wherein the host-defined configuration comprises an location and a sizeof each of the slides, and generating the plurality of content blocksbased on the ultra-high resolution image.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the digital file comprises a video, and the plurality of contentblocks are generated by: splitting the video into a plurality of videoclips based on a host-defined clip length; and generating the pluralityof content blocks of the video based on the plurality of video clips. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the digital file comprises a virtualtour, and the plurality of content blocks are generated by: generating aplurality of 360-degree photos for each scene of the virtual tour; andgenerating the plurality of content blocks based on the plurality of360-degree photos.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or moreservers comprise one or more content block storage servers and one ormore command synchronization servers that are geographicallydistributed.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more hostcommands comprise at least one of the following: a zoom command; arotation command; an annotation command; a navigation command; a commandto add an object to the view of the digital file; or a command to deleteor adjust an object in the view of the digital file.
 12. A computersystem of a viewer computer device, the computer system comprising oneor more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readablememories coupled to the one or more processors and configured withinstructions executable by the one or more processors to cause thesystem to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a host computerdevice, one or more storage addresses of one or more content blocksrepresenting a view of a digital file, wherein the one or more storageaddresses correspond to the one or more content blocks in a server, andthe one or more content blocks are a subset of a plurality of contentblocks generated based on the digital file; retrieving, from the server,the one or more content blocks based on the one or more storageaddresses; receiving, from the host computer device, one or more hostcommands executed on the host computer device for managing a view of thedigital file; synchronizing the view of the digital file between theviewer computer device and the host computer device by executing the oneor more host commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks;receiving, from the host computer device, a solo-mode starting command;initiating a solo-mode that enables the viewer computer device to adjusta view setting of the digital file on the viewer computer device withoutsynchronizing with the view setting of the digital file on the hostcomputer device or any other viewer computer device, wherein the viewsetting comprises browsing, zooming, or rotating; receiving, from thehost computer device, a solo-mode ending command; and re-syncing theview setting of the digital file on the viewer computer device to theview setting of the digital file on the host device.
 13. The computersystem of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:transmitting, to the host computer device, a request for presenting;upon receiving an approval of the request from the host computer device,executing one or more viewer commands on the one or more retrievedcontent blocks to manage the view of the digital file; and transmittingthe one or more viewer commands to the host computer device for the hostcomputer device to execute the one or more viewer commands.
 14. Thecomputer system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of content blocksrepresenting the digital file are generated by: generating a pluralityof versions of the digital file; and generating a plurality of contentblocks based on the plurality of versions of the digital file.
 15. Thecomputer system of claim 14, wherein the digital file comprises anultra-high resolution image, and the generating the plurality ofversions of the digital file comprises: downsampling the ultra-highresolution image to obtain one or more downsampled images withresolutions lower than an original resolution of the ultra-highresolution image.
 16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein thegenerating the plurality of content blocks of the digital filecomprises: generating one or more first content blocks based on theultra-high resolution image; generating one or more second contentblocks based on the one or more downsampled images; and aggregating theone or more first content blocks and the one or more second contentblocks to form the plurality of content blocks of the digital file. 17.The computer system of claim 12, wherein the digital file comprises avideo, and the plurality of content blocks are generated by: splittingthe video into a plurality of video clips based on a host-defined cliplength; and generating the plurality of content blocks of the videobased on the plurality of video clips.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of a viewer computer device, configuredwith instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the oneor more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving, from ahost computer device, one or more storage addresses of one or morecontent blocks representing a view of a digital file, wherein the one ormore storage addresses correspond to the one or more content blocks in aserver, and the one or more content blocks are a subset of a pluralityof content blocks generated based on the digital file; retrieving, fromthe server, the one or more content blocks based on the one or morestorage addresses; receiving, from the host computer device, one or morehost commands executed on the host computer device for managing a viewof the digital file; synchronizing the view of the digital file betweenthe viewer computer device and the host computer device by executing theone or more host commands on the one or more retrieved content blocks;receiving, from the host computer device, a solo-mode starting command;initiating a solo-mode that enables the viewer computer device to adjusta view setting of the digital file on the viewer computer device withoutsynchronizing with the view setting of the digital file on the hostcomputer device or any other viewer computer device, wherein the viewsetting comprises browsing, zooming, or rotating; receiving, from thehost computer device, a solo-mode ending command; and re-syncing theview setting of the digital file on the viewer computer device to theview setting of the digital file on the host device.